I started about a year or so ago when they were going through the writer’s strike in Hollywood. If you never believed in the power of the written word, never was its absence more felt than in the film industry.
Not as easy as you thought?
Just get a couple stars, some cool cars, explosions, and fancy clothes and roll ’em!
You’re good, right?
Hence, my newfound interest in documentaries.
I can’t believe just how much American history I missed when I was growing up. I was in different countries, different states, and I even attended Japanese and British schools before getting transferred to yet another military (Air Force) base stateside, this time it was South Carolina.
So I have always had a thirst for knowledge starting at about age three.
My first motivation was to make my big sister cry.
Not because I was a mean little asshole, but because my big brother was.
He would open up a book to the “Acknowledgements” section and tell my sister, four years older than I, to read it.
She didn’t even know what the word “acknowledgements” was, more less how to pronounce it. She would try and get flustered of course, and then I was handed the book, whereupon I perfectly recited any and every page as requested. This would make my sister break out into tears, and my big brother, my hero, was laughing loudly so I know I did good.
You’d have to throw in the years from 1974-1985 as years I never checked any news except maybe the weather report. I wasn’t paying any attention to the local, state, national, or world news for that matter.
I was having too much fun to watch news.
But I read a lot.
Charles Bukowski.
Steinbeck.
Poe.
Shakespeare.
Puzo.
But back to documentaries.
I found that I love learning about things I may have missed in the news when it actually happened.
Now since I am a reader of serial killer books, I skip over those, but, for instance, stories of real kidnappings and other crimes I’ll watch every time.
Disasters.
I can’t watch enough of them, whether it is a theatrical production or a collection of real journalistic accounts. Yes, watching the sheer scale of destruction caused by tsunamis or earthquakes is mesmerizing, but I am actually attracted to those films to see how the human element is portrayed: extreme acts of heroism, unbelievable survival skills, and superhuman efforts are what keep me watching and shaking my head in disbelief.
When I lived in Germany, I inundated myself with learning about the horrors of the Nazi regime. I also read everything by American historian William Shirer, so I don’t watch the “death camps” documentaries because I have read in horrid detail, the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany and believe me, once is more than enough.
Watching the Chernobyl disaster series was a great glimpse into the inner workings of the plant and reasons for the near-nuclear meltdown of reactor 4 at Chernobyl.
*Off-subject, but you MUST watch The Chernobyl Diaries!
That’s how you write an ending for a movie!
Stay Well.
